A/N: Hi fellow readers! I'm back with another chapter of this mysterious story! Thank you all for reviewing! You always make my day! Please read & review! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kung Fu Panda.


Chapter Three: Wondering


Po's head was swirling with thoughts.

...Master Croc...

...Bandit...

...Crook...

...My Hero...

...Tigress...

...Best Friend...

...Hurt...

...Why?...

...Yum...

...Dumplings…

...Almond Cookies...

...Croc...

...A bandit...

...Why?...

"Po."

...His promise…

...Why?...

"Po."

...How could that be-...

"PO!"

Tigress waved her paw in front of Po's face. Would he ever quit daydreaming?

Daydreaming. There is nothing like the feeling of being lost in your thoughts. Thoughts, dreams, déjà vu, all these things are fantasy of the mind.

Sometimes, Po would be talking to someone and then he eyes and thoughts would go somewhere else, then he'd stare at the object forever until someone snapped him out of it. One of the Furious Five and Shifu's fears was that Po might start daydreaming during a battle. They prayed that it would never happen.

This time, he seemed to be thinking – no daydreaming – very hard.

"It's okay, Tigress." Monkey said. "I've got him this time."

The primate elbowed Mantis and snickered.

Tigress' eyes widened as she realized that this was not going to end well.

"Oh, Po!" Mantis giggled. "We have a surprise for you! Monkey has agreed to give you all his almond cookies for free! He says-"

"Hey!" Monkey butted in. "That wasn't the plan!"

Mantis chortled. "Oh, it wasn't?" he said sarcastically. "What is the plan again?"

Monkey leaned in and whispered into Mantis' little antennae.

Crane groaned. "You guys have a plan now? That's ridiculous!"

"Okay, ready?" Monkey asked.

Mantis nodded. "Ready. Don't kill us, Tigress."

Tigress frowned. "Why would I – Oh no! You-"

Before the two rascals could do anything, Tigress quickly jumped to her feet and shoved Po off his chair. The Dragon Warrior landed on the floor with a thud.

Crane counted his feathers "Three, two, one..."

"Ow!" Po cried! "What was that for?"

Tigress glared at the two troublemakers and smirked at the panda.

"You were daydreami – thinking." she replied and helped him back up to his seat.

Whatever those two were going to say or do, Tigress didn't want to get involved. Like the last time, Monkey and Mantis had embarrassed her by putting pepper up her nose. The results were too unbearable to remember...

The feline shook her head, ridding her thoughts of the pepper-incident and helped Po up from the floor.

"Your tea is done." she said.

"Oh, thanks." the panda mumbled. He was still thinking about what Croc had asked him to do one week ago.

The panda lifted the steaming teacup to his mouth and smelled the sweet scent of the honey bush leaves.

He was about to take a sip when Viper cut in. "Oh! Be careful Po!" the reptile warned. "It's a bit hot."

Po grimaced; he didn't want to get burned. He slowly set the cup back down and sighed. No tea to drink. Was this night going to get any worse?

Tigress on the other hand, took her tea and drank almost all of it. Ahh, much better. She thought to herself.

Monkey looked at the tiger, shocked. "How did you do that!? This tea's so hot I can't even touch my cup much less drink it!

Tigress just shrugged. "I just wanted to drink some tea…" She finished her sentence by drinking the rest of the hot liquid in her cup.

Everyone just looked at her like she was crazy. She was so hardcore and could do almost anything. But the last week's events had caused her friends to know that she wasn't a machine that did Kung Fu. No, she was a tiger that was capable of her own feelings and emotions, she just didn't like to show them so much.

Po tapped Tigress on her shoulder. She turned towards him with her eyebrows raised. "What?" she asked.

"Didn't that hurt?"

"No, it didn't. I like when the tea is hot."

The two of them locked eyes and stared at each other, as if they were communicating in a secret language.

Finally, after the seconds felt like minutes, Tigress spoke.

"Po," she said. "You seem...distraught."

He looked at his friend and noticed that she had that look of concern in her eyes. She didn't look well though, her bandages around her arm and waist made her look like the evil Lord Shen had hit her with a cannonball. Well, it was because she had been hit a cannonball just last week. Why had she pushed him out of the way? She was got hurt and it was all his fault.

Po shook himself and smiled at her with sympathy. "You um...don't look too good yourself."

She smiled slightly with amusement at the panda's answer. Then she slowly got out of her chair and excused herself from the table, explaining that she wanted to retire early.

"And boys," she reminded. "Don't forget to finish your papers for Master Shifu tomorrow. I cannot imagine his face if you don't." With that, she left the kitchen and strode down the hallway to her room.

"Goodnight!" Po called. He turned back to his teacup, which was still full.

"Po," Viper sighed. "What's wrong? You look so…down."

Po shrugged. "I don't know," he mumbled. "Maybe I'm a little shocked about what Tigress just told us about Master Croc. I'm just having a hard time taking this all in…"

Viper looked to the rest of the team for help, she didn't know what to say. Finding out that the crocodile was a bandit had been very unbelievable for her too. She tapped Mantis with the tip of her tail.

"Say something!" she whispered.

"Huh?" the insect whispered back. Viper gave him a look in reply. "Oh! Okay…"

"Po," Mantis said. "You just found out that Master Croc used to be a bandit," he stated. "So what? He's not a crook now, that's all that matters."

Po sighed, "Okay, you're right."

But in his mind Po was only second-guessing himself.

The rest of the night was the same as always: tofu cake for dessert, a game of checkers, filling out last minutes papers, and planning pranks for the next day. After everyone was done in the kitchen, Po and the rest of the Furious Five trailed off to their rooms.

Po had a strangely difficult time falling asleep. There were so many things on his mind. Well, that and the fact that Crane had warned him not to eat so much cake. He should have listened to his avian friend.

Finally after it had seemed like hours of tossing and turning, the panda started to drift off to sleep. However, what he thought might be a good slumber, turned out to be the worst nightmare ever...


A/N: Wow! This is getting spooky…

Okay, there you have it! The third chapter of The Mysterious Master Croc! Please read and review! And if you can, I would like if you could tell me if there is a part that made you laugh or liked the best! I'm always pestering my family and friends to tell me what they liked the best. And all you guys are Kung Fu Panda lovers just like me! So it would be great to know which parts YOU liked.

Catch you later!